Published April 6, 2021 at 6:04 PM EDT Listen • 26:02 Cover of UNSUNG
On this episode of the Gulf Coast Life Book Club, we hear from Michelle D. Commander, editor of UNSUNG. Unsung is a remarkable anthology of slave narratives, children’s literature of the time, and much more. It was compiled from the outstanding collection of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Michelle D. Commander, PhD.
Plus, author Rachel Lynn Solomon about her novel THE EX TALK. It’s a romantic comedy set in … of all places … a public radio station.
Sabreen Lakhani
Iâm So Sorry! Romance Novels, Bad Behavior and Forgiveness
Credit.Christy Lundy
March 10, 2021
A romanceâs happy ending requires that neither of the lead characters do anything unforgivable. But everyoneâs definition of unforgivable is different â so if a character does something a reader considers wildly out of bounds, or if a characterâs remorse is not finely calibrated enough for the readerâs taste, it can call the authorâs whole definition of happiness into question.
So Iâm happy to have read Suleikha Snyderâs BIG BAD WOLF (Sourcebooks Casablanca, 305 pp., paper, $8.99), because this may be the first time Iâve ever seen a heroine in a romance novel specifically and emphatically say that forgiving the hero for his past sins was not her job.
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Monica Gomez-Hira’s fascination with quinceañeras began more than 25 years when she attended one for the first time while she was an English major at Wellesley College. The spectacle of the 15-year-old’s party amazed the then aspiring author.
“They had a smokescreen, then they wheeled her out, and she was in a giant flower. The flower slowly opened, and she rose out of the flower,” Gomez-Hira recalled. “I had never been to a birthday party like this.”
For the daughter of Colombian immigrants, this moment sparked an idea for a story, one that laid in gestation for years as Gomez-Hira worked for Simon & Schuster, Random House, and most recently, Barnes & Noble. After over a decade in the literary world, Gomez-Hira is finally becoming a published author. In March, HarperTeen will release her first young adult novel,
When I found out about
The Ex Talk, I absolutely had to read it (even though, as a rule, I don t love contemporary romances) because it s set at a Pacific Northwest public radio station. Office rivals Shay and Dominic she s a veteran producer, he s a cocky J-school grad who won t shut up about his master s degree end up having to pose as exes to host a new dating and relationships show for their struggling station. Naturally, they fall for each other.
Author Rachel Lynn Solomon based the story partly on her own experience. Shay s journey mirrors mine in a lot of ways, she tells me via email. We both studied journalism in college, and at the beginning of the book, she produces a talk show similar to the one I worked on in my early twenties. I also reported a handful of stories and produced a weekly pre-recorded show for Seattle s KUOW. The most exciting part of writing this book was how Shay grew into someone with her own history and aspirations. While she s always dreamed